The research analysed the results of 15 previous studies investigating the link between yoga and common menstrual complaints, including cramps and PMT, with the results showing that yoga could help alleviate these symptoms.

Some studies analysed also showed that yoga could help reduce bloating and breast tenderness, while helping to boost mood and aid relaxation and concentration.

“The authors of these studies suggest that yoga works on the autonomic stress response and also on how pain is experienced and interpreted, perhaps by stimulating the release of the body’s natural painkillers," the research author, Jennifer Oates, told TIME.

Oates, who works as a lecturer in mental health nursing at King’s College London, added that further research would be needed to figure out exactly what type of yoga works best at reducing the symptoms.

She also noted that the studies included in her research included women who practised yoga either every day or every other day, and that future work would need to focus on exercise regimes “that are a bit more typical of the average busy woman, maybe one or two classes a week”.